


Walking on Embers

by Watchtower2806



Series: Dragon Age Prompts [1]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Hawke in the Fade, M/M, The Fade, Warden in the Fade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:33:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21841468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Watchtower2806/pseuds/Watchtower2806
Summary: It couldn’t get much hotter. The pain was a fresh agony every time flesh met earth, or whatever it actually was. The Fade never was consistent about that fact. Every step was a lesson in pain and a reminder of exactly what they were doing there. But it was worth it. For… them. He steered his thoughts in another direction before the thoughts of him brought him to his knees.A.K.A. Hawke and Mahariel are in the Fade and their husbands are not going to let them go.
Relationships: Fenris/Female Hawke, Zevran Arainai & Fenris, Zevran Arainai/Male Mahariel, Zevran Arainai/Male Warden
Series: Dragon Age Prompts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1573648
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	Walking on Embers

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is my first work on AO3, and I have a million Dragon Age prompts to get through so I figured I'd go ahead and post them here. Fair warning, I literally wrote this in an hour at a Barnes and Noble cafe and did a quick edit so there might be some mistakes. Enjoy!

It couldn’t get much hotter. The pain was a fresh agony every time flesh met earth, or whatever it actually was. The Fade never was consistent about that fact. Every step was a lesson in pain and a reminder of exactly what they were doing there. But it was worth it. For… them. He steered his thoughts in another direction before the thoughts of him brought him to his knees.

It had been months on the outside. After Adamant, neither was willing to just give up and leave their lovers behind. It never was their style to do anything the easy way. It was part of the charm. Finding a way back into the Fade was the easy part, once they could convince the Inquisitor. But she knew what it was like to want something so badly and not be able to bring it back. She had lost her clan, after all. 

Tracking wasn't an easy thing in the Fade. The constant shifting of terrain, the meeting of so many different minds night after night had an echo effect on everything. One minute it was evening, the sun drifting further toward the horizon, until all you could see was the changing color of the sky fading into darkness. The next minute, it was midday and the light reflecting off the snow all but blinded them. Now, they were in what looked like a hellscape; nothing living had been here in ages, most likely having burned away when whatever disaster happened here took place. Hope had left them long ago, but neither was the type to stop searching.

“Look.”

The thoughts left him as his companion’s voice broke the eerie silence around them. In the distance, a scrap of cloth, red as blood, drifted from atop a ridge and fluttered out of view. As they broke into a sprint, he felt the faint stirrings of something in his chest again. He had almost forgotten what it felt like, being alive. It's the first time he's felt anything since he heard the news. 

A gauntleted hand reached into his view and plucked the fabric from where it caught against a rock. It matched what was wound around the armored wrist, though that was much older.

“This is hers.” His companion’s fingers grasped onto the cloth like a lifeline. For the first time in months, there was a chance to see their loved ones again, slim as it was. They scoured the area for hours - until exhaustion set in and passed, until they were barely standing but for their will. As consciousness left him, his last thoughts were of hair like a sunset, and the sound of the bells she used to weave into it.

* * *

The heat is what woke him; searing, burning pain along any bare skin that touched the ground. Jerking upright, he glanced to the side as his companion did the same. No words were needed as the two readied themselves again and set off in a new direction. They were closer than they had been since the start, and it wouldn't do to lose the trail so soon.

It felt like hours as they continued along the path near the molten flames. There was no telling how long their journey had been, despite keeping track of their forays into unconsciousness. Along the way, they find more scraps of cloth, some blood red and others as blue as the sea on a clear day. The father they go, they know the closer they get to whatever may lie at the end of their path. Whether that be reunions or something else entirely is uncertain, but they know better than to think on those possibilities. 

* * *

At the end of the path is what some might call a house. Never a home, for what was there was about as welcoming as an Archdemon, but with slightly less teeth. The very walls of the place sent off a foreboding aura, but this was as good a place as any to rest for the night. As the door creaked inward, he saw a flash of familiar silver before he felt a bead of blood dripping down his throat.

“Always with the blade my dear. One would think you were unhappy to see me.” The blade didn’t waver as the figure stepped into the light. His blue tunic was shredded, only what was hidden under his armor having been spared in the attack. Long dried blood crusted from under his short platinum hair, across the lines of his vallaslin and down his jaw from what looked to be a minor wound that had yet to be cleaned. The gray blue eyes pierced through him, and he had never seen a more beautiful sight than the one before him. He had always loved the strong silent type, and the time apart had only strengthened what was between them.

He knew he’d have to prove himself, the Fade being the temptation it was. He wasn’t dead yet, but he knew there was only one chance.

Baring his teeth, his lover spoke. “You have 30 seconds to answer my questions before this blade ends you for having the audacity to wear that face, demon.” The look on his face was about as feral as it had been when confronting Zathrian in the Forest all those years ago.

“Ah, such a beautiful face to be so angry at me. The last time I can remember was when...” The blade dug further into his neck, and his words were cut off.

“Two questions and then we know whether you live or die. One: what did you swear to me the day we met? And two: the day I told you goodbye what were my words and your response?” Through the anger, he could see the faintest bit of hope in his love’s eyes and it wouldn’t do to disappoint.

“I seem to remember calling you a deadly sex god, though I really had no idea at the time.” He winks through the pain and continues, “I hereby pledge my oath of loyalty to you until such a time as you choose to release me from it. I am your man, without reservation...this i swear. This is what I swore the day you spared my life when I tried to take yours. And as for that day at the gates...” he looked straight into his lover’s eyes as he spoke. “You told me you loved me and my response was ‘cruel to the end,’ for that is what it would have been to have loved you and lost you all the same.”

The blade clatters to the floor, the noise a cannon against the silence in the room. He can’t react before his arms are full, their bodies crashing into each other and careening back into his companion that had been waiting outside during his… interrogation. His lover looks up and catches sight of the pale hair shining like a beacon despite the darkness that swallowed them.

“She’s inside, but she’s not doing well.” They move aside as one as the brooding elf makes his way past them, deeper into the house. In the back corner is what looks to be a makeshift field hospital, made with what little medical supplies and potions on hand during the battle. She lies there under both of their cloaks, her skin a chalky white and sweat running rivers down her exposed face. Immediately, he takes her into his arms as he pulls a vial out from his armor and pours the red liquid into her mouth. The color immediately comes back into her face as she opens her eyes.

“Took you long enough. At least I didn't have to wait three years this time.” The corners of her mouth pull up into what would have passed for a smile were it not for the pain from the large gash running from her shoulder to her hip. “Damn, remind me not to play with greater demons without a full party again.” 

* * *

As they bandaged their wounds, the two couples recounted their journeys and kept a close eye on each other, as if without it their lovers would simply disappear, another apparition in the night. He hummed into his lover’s hair as they rested for the night and gathered their strength. Walking on embers had never been easier, with a reason such as this. Tomorrow would bring new challenges, but they could face whatever the Fade threw at them as long as they were together.


End file.
